[jojoandschrodi]

i'm new to the kitten game, so please excuse me. your advice is however appreciated.

my kittens like to get up on my kitchen island. i don't like them there and i don't want them to develop the bad habit of climbing on counters. i've tried the cat repellent stuff in the can and that has not worked and i've also tried putting aluminum foil there both right side up and upside down, and also this doesn't seem to work, since they don't at all mind walking right on it (though i read they allegedly hate the feeling of aluminum foil beneath their paws).

what have you guys used that has worked? and has anyone else also had the experience of these things, which i've read commonly work, not working?

also, how much should i feed my kittens? i don't want to deprived them of food since they are growing, but one of them started getting a big belly, so i think i am overfeeding them. i give about half a can of science diet kitten food in the morning and a scoop of dry food at night. is it too much? they are both about five months, not quite six. i've read so many things about kitten feeding schedules, i'm not sure what to believe at this point. one of my kittens is getting fat though, his belly is big and.

 

[Nibbler]

The cat repellent in a can never worked for us either. As for feeding i do free feed but they do get there wet food in the morning and then they have there dry ll day long.

 

[jojoandschrodi]

are your cats getting fat? i noticed one of mine getting fat, that's why i'm concerned.

 

[FlickeringHope]

A guy on youtube tested the "cats don't walk on aluminum foil" theory, as it turns out, if a cat wants something that requires walking on aluminum foil, they'll more than happily do it.

As for the kittens getting on the counter, hiss(sounds like : tssssst!) at them and take a heavy step toward them, or hiss at them and loudly clap your hands.

Science Diet is TERRIBLE food. As far as how much to feed them, the thing with feeding them dry food like Science Diet, is that it is so poor quality that cats(and dogs) feel like they need to eat more in order to feel full. So they eat more, and more, and more, when available, and gain the pounds. If you feed a more nutritious food, they'll eat less and feel full faster.

You can pour food in and let them eat as much as they want for 15 minutes, and then take it all away until the next feeding. Or you can experiment with different food amounts until you find one that seems to work.

 

[jojoandschrodi]

Alright....

my vet recommended the science diet to me. you're telling me it is bad, so what is good then?

i use wet food science diet kitten formula and i use a dry food which is Wellness kitten recipe.

i have been giving them half a can in the AM of the wet food and a scoop of the dry food at night. they inhale the food as soon as i set it down and they don't stop until it's all gone. i could continue feeding them and i'm confident they would continue eating.

is it not normal or is it perfectly normal for one of them to have a belly?

one does, one does not.

 

[FlickeringHope]

Vets are paid by Science Diet to promote and sell their food in their offices.

Every cat is different with how much they eat and how often. It's up to you to determine how much to give them. I've tried everything under the sun. We have 3 cats, two are nibblers, the other one's a gorger. I free-feed and the gorger is gaining on the pounds and even the nibblers are putting on a pound or two more than I'd like. I feed too much and the nibblers are fine, and my gorger stays steadily chubby, I feed too little and the nibblers are losing weight, and my gorger is fine. You can purchase a couple SlimCat balls(or any other "cat treat ball" but apparently SlimCat is ranked better because you can control how large the holes are and thus how easily the food does and does not fall out of them) and fill them with their dry food. The great idea about that is that they're still kittens, so they should have more than enough energy and willingness to actually work for their food. The thing you have to keep in mind is that dry food is biologically inappropriate for cats. No matter how good the brand claims itself to be, dry food is saturated with carbohydrates because that's just what the manufacturers have to do in order to make kibble what it is. This is an excellent article about that : http://www.blakkatz.com/dryfood.html

Wellness is a good brand, as is Innova, Nature's Variety, etc. pretty much anything that promotes themselves as holistic is usually pretty safe.

 

[jojoandschrodi]

I tried the wellness wet food for kittens but the boys had a hard time eating it and I had to cut it up for them. Vet recommended science diet and since they liked it I stuck with it. Wellness I read it was good and my kittens seem to like it. Maybe you're right, all marketing. I don't doubt it, I'm usually very skeptical of these things, but I trust ny vet and have a hard time imagining them purposely selling me food that is bad for my cat. Though crazier things have indeed happened.

So basically, you are telling me to feed them when they want to eat? My boys cry for food all the time. I can certainly try a different brand wet food if it'll help.

 

[FlickeringHope]

Most vets don't know it's bad food. Vets aren't schooled on nutrition, they're schooled on the medical needs and illnesses of animals. Whether they privately study their nutrition is up to them, but only a handful ever seem to. They'll innocently believe that what Science Diet tells them is truth because *those* are the ones that have studied the nutritional needs of cats and dogs. Your vet just...doesn't know any better. Dry cat food manufacturers also coat their kibble in chicken fat to entice cats to eat it. The more chicken fat they use, the more likely the cat's going to eat it. I accidentally tested this myself when I bought a bag of cat food that had no chicken fat in the ingredients list, and my cats starved themselves(EVEN my gorger who up until that point had not turned down a single brand of cat food) and would not eat it. On a hunch I bought the same brand, but a different formula that has chicken fat in the ingredients list, and none of the kitties have ever objected to eating it ever since.

I'm not necessarily saying feed them when they want to eat, but either figure out a happy serving size and schedule that allows the chubby kitten to lose weight and keeps the slender one looking slender, or put a little more food in a couple SlimCat balls and let them work for their dry meals. Personally, I'm not a fan of letting my cats have dry food out when I'm sleeping or out of the house. Because I think they're more likely to eat it out of boredom because I'm not entertaining them with my goofy human presence.

 

[jojoandschrodi]

Slimcat balls. Interesting idea.

I try to play with then for s fee hours everyday to keep their metabolism going and they play a lot with each other when I'm not around. I hate the idea of denying them food when they're hungry, growing kitty cats.

 

[FlickeringHope]

You can feed them several times a day, can't you? I think I've read 2 - 3 servings a day is more appropriate than one anyway.

 

[Blacksheep]

I'm gonna put it this way. Look into a vet book and the sponsors are Hills, Iams, and sometimes Purina. So therefore, vets are told that this is the best.

Anyway follow the back feeding instructions.

As far as climbing. A cat tree placed away from the counter (but in the sun) got most of my cats to stop climbing on counters.

 

[wishbone]

My Aunt free feed her young kittens but they have enough toys and love to play.